10/12/2006 NovaCentrix, an Austin, Texas, nanotechnology products company with a focus on printable electronics, life sciences and energetics, announced the availability of a novel rapid curing technique called Photonic Curing.
10/12/2006 Aldagen Inc. of Durham, N.C., and Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) of Santa Barbara, Calif., announced that they have formed an alliance to co-develop and commercialize a version of IMT's Rare Cell Purification System, customized specifically for clinical cell therapies.
10/12/2006 Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. signed an agreement to acquire Alphasem from Dover Technologies International, Inc., a subsidiary of Dover Corporation. Alphasem supplies die-bonder and MEMS packaging equipment. In 2005, the company generated approximately $60 million in sales of die bonders and related materials, with 260 employees.
10/12/2006 October 12, 2006 - Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. says it is entering the die bonder market with an agreed-upon $30 million acquisition of equipment supplier Alphasem, a subsidiary of Dover Technologies International Inc.
10/12/2006 October 12, 2006 - With the exception of two technology sectors, the overall market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment should be flat in 2007, as "enormous quantities" of chipmaking tools ordered in recent months is absorbed and new orders have slowed dramatically, according to analyst firm The Information Network.
10/11/2006 October 11, 2006 - Silicon Microstructures, Inc. (SMI), a developer of silicon pressure sensors, says it has ramped to 40,000 sensors/day on a new 150mm MEMS manufacturing line.
Semiconductor manufacturers face critical challenges at the sub-90-nm nodes, such as increased costs, shorter cycle times and improved yields, and optimization of expensive production and lab equipment. Development challenges increase the difficulty of semiconductor analysis for yield enhancement and failure analysis. New analysis schemes and methodologies are being implemented for ramp and production control and lab FA, circuit edit, and debug.
10/11/2006 huge screens, video demonstrations, special effects — they also tend to bring in dynamic speakers and provide an opportunity for networking among various players in the supply chain.
10/11/2006 October 11, 2006 - IMEC has added top foundry TSMC to its Europractice IC service, which offers low-cost ASIC prototyping and ASIC small volume production through multiproject chip and dedicated wafer runs.
10/11/2006 October 11, 2006 - MKS Instruments Inc., Wilmington, MA, has acquired privately held Novx Corp., a San Jose-based supplier of electrostatic charge process monitoring equipment for an undisclosed amount.
10/11/2006 FlipChip International LLC (FCI) demonstrated a product with an approximately 10× enhancement of reliability compared to standards of JEDEC JESD22-B111 Drop Test Specification for wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP) products. The company announced that enhanced lead-free (ELF) technology — developed at its Advanced Reliability Laboratory in Phoenix, AZ — combines advanced metallurgy and polymer technologies for reliability improvements.
10/11/2006 Asymtek market manager Steven J. Adamson became president elect of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) for 2007; he will become president in 2008. Adamson will preside as general chair over IMAPS' 39th International Symposium on Microelectronics, October 8 – 12, 2006, in San Diego. He will help to guide the organization's course and increase support and membership.
10/11/2006 The Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA) released a white paper on the application of nanotechnology in personal care products, including cosmetics and certain over-the-counter (OTC) drug products, specifically sunscreens.
10/11/2006 A new consortium, EMC-3D, has been created to address the technical and cost issues of creating 3D interconnects using Thru-Silicon-Via technology for chip stacking and MEMS/sensors packaging.
10/11/2006 Solid state lighting phosphor provider Intematix Corp. of Fremont, Calif., announced that it has added LEDTECH Electronics Corp. of Taiwan to its list of strategic customer wins.
10/10/2006 Advanced Interconnect Technologies (AIT) and Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), signed a multi-year, multi-million-dollar services agreement in which AIT will purchase assembly assets from IDT's operations in Penang, Malaysia. The agreement will seamlessly integrate supply chain and technologies, according to Mike Hunter, vice president of worldwide manufacturing for IDT.
10/10/2006 The special Friday session of BACUS '06, organized by Bob Naber of Cadence, addressed the question of industry progress and readiness for DFM, and discussed the remaining challenges as well as proposed solutions. Mark Mason of Texas Instruments pointed out that "DFM is a journey, not a destination," and worried that management did not yet understand how hard it was going to be.
10/10/2006 Leading semiconductor market analysts were sharply divided at last week's SEMI New England Breakfast Forum as to whether demand for NAND flash memory will keep pace with the expected supply in the foreseeable future, although all did agree that the future of flash holds the key to growth in semiconductor capital equipment spending over the next year.
10/10/2006 Chris Moore, CEO of metrology equipment supplier Philips AMS (now known simply as AMS -- Advanced Metrology Systems) talks with WaferNEWS about the decision to break free from former parent Royal Philips, the new reality of semiconductor market cycles, and where the company is pushing new inroads for its trench-measurement technology.
10/10/2006 A new report from SEMI and Yole Developpement Group finds several emerging trends in MEMS that promise new opportunities for chip companies and suppliers to expand their business. Integration of CMOS continues, with synergies in technology and processes flowing both ways. Demand for new supporting technologies is taking shape, particularly for packaging materials, and large chipmakers (including foundries) are lending legitimacy to the market with their increasing activity in MEMS development.
